title: Augmentor of liver regeneration ameliorates renal tubular epithelial cell injury after rat liver transplantation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Acute renal insufficiency and dysfunction are common complications after clinical liver transplantation. This study examined whether augmentor of liver regeneration (ALR) played a significant role to ameliorate renal tubular epithelial cell injury after liver transplantation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Orthotopic liver transplantation was performed from Sprague-Dawley (SD) to SD rats. Twelve recipients were randomly divided into two groups: ALR group (with recombinated human ALR 100 microg/kg . d intramuscular injection postoperation) versus normal saline-treated group (with the same volume of normal saline injected intramuscularly postoperation). Rats were sacrificed at day 3 posttransplantation. Renal morphological changes in recipients were assessed with light microscopy. The expressions of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and caspase-3 protein and mRNA in the kidney were evaluated by real-time polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemical staining.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Morphological changes in renal tubular epithelial cells were not significant in either group at day 3 posttransplantation. The intragraft expression of TNF-alpha and caspase-3 was strikingly promoted in the normal saline-treated group and PCNA attenuated compared to the ALR group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data suggested that ALR may play a role to reduce renal damage in liver transplant recipients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: F W
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Long
authors.forename: S Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Z J
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Z D
authors.initials: ZD
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.forename: Y J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bao
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gong
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D015415:Biomarkers; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007684:Kidney Tubules / Q000293:injuries / Q000473:pathology*; D008115:Liver Regeneration; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000473:pathology* / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha